While everyone is worrying about the sambo belts, no one has mentioned where eric is quoted as saying he had 1 at all. With very little research one can see that he is a 4th degree under Joe Lewis, and has gotten several awards. What rank are you? under who?

This info in regards to rank is for Mike Merriman claiming a brown belt in SAMBO. No one has brought Eric's rank with Joe Lewis, at least that I have seen, into question. Maybe you should read the thread a little more carefully.

While everyone is worrying about the sambo belts, no one has mentioned where eric is quoted as saying he had 1 at all. With very little research one can see that he is a 4th degree under Joe Lewis, and has gotten several awards. What rank are you? under who?

What ranks would you like? And before I answer I throw it back at you. Who are you and what's your rank?

While everyone is worrying about the sambo belts, no one has mentioned where eric is quoted as saying he had 1 at all. With very little research one can see that he is a 4th degree under Joe Lewis, and has gotten several awards. What rank are you? under who?

You fail at reading comprehension. The head trainer is claiming a brown belt in Sambo. Also a 4th degree from Joe Lewis does not make you honest.

Also, SSF, is it a purely out of civic service that you start a thread bagging a school that is in the same town as your own? Which you've already rated as being pure badass on this very site?

While everyone is worrying about the sambo belts, no one has mentioned where eric is quoted as saying he had 1 at all. With very little research one can see that he is a 4th degree under Joe Lewis, and has gotten several awards. What rank are you? under who?

Eric (I suspect), this thread is not about you ;) BTW, your bio says you are a 3rd degree under Lewis. Not 4th degree.

But, I would love to hear your thoughts on Merriman's "brown belt" in sambo.

I would also be curious to hear your comments on this post by SSF:

Eric Chester just recently put on a MMA show in Nashville TN and it was suppose to be a fund raiser to help out Joe Lewis with his medical cost and he never gave Joe any money.

What about it? You were specifically ranting about what he did to SAMBO, not a currently unsubstantiated allegation against another person who may or may not have absconded with money meant for Joe Lewis. Move the goalposts, much?

Originally Posted by HereBeADragon

How about how this whole site seems to share the same opinion of people who sell belts?

We make fun of it. It's just stupidity. SAMBO doesn't have belts. ****, it barely has a standard. Thus, it's kind of tough to make federal case out of it. It's not like he sold a gold medal at a tournament. He got someone to overpay for a piece of cloth meant to hold the jacket closed.

I could degrade it into an absurd cause to make the point clearer: he could have just as easily sold a bill of goods by claiming a particular belt had magic sex powers and convinced a guy to wear it. It's a bit smarmy, but how is that worse than a practical joke in poor taste? Is it his responsibility the guy he sold it to is running around trying to pick up chicks with the line: "I have the magic karma sutra belt! Let me strap you on, baby! Me love you long time!"? Or, is that merely hilarious?

Originally Posted by HereBeADragon

Would you welcome this guy into your gym? I sure wouldn't.

I personally have a different attitude toward this. It isn't really a topic for this thread. But I will say I would understand a lot if it were done to take care of someone's family. I wouldn't condone it, but having another mouth to feed changes the equation slightly. Also, it's rather easy to say who a person should or should not allow in the gym when you don't run the place or have the burden of keeping the door open.

Last edited by Tom Kagan; 1/23/2012 5:22pm at .

Calm down, it's only ones and zeros.

"Your calm and professional manner of response is really draining all the fun out of this. Can you reply more like Dr. Fagbot or something? Call me some names, mention some sand in my vagina or something of the sort. You can't expect me to come up with reasonable arguments man!" -- MaverickZ

Why are you taking care of these problems for this guy?Why isn't HE telling them not to advertise as Sambo? Why isn't HE paying them back and apologizing for ripping them off? How penetant is a man who has someone else cover his sins? This whole thing stinks and frankly its not making you smell much like roses either. I'm glad you have the sense to not let him teach at your school but how has he learned his lesson if you are taking care of it for him?

Note that my point there is not about which art he is misrepresenting. I am asking why this guy isn't the one making good.

Originally Posted by HereBeADragon

I don't care if he has a kid or if he is hard up. Everyone has a hard luck story but only the pathetic use it to justify all the wrong and bullshit they do in their lives. Where is his honor? Where is his self respect? He doesn't care about fraud? He doesn't care about being a lier? It doesn't bother him that he took a **** on an art you claim to care about? Doesn't sound like someone who has learned the error of his ways or is worth having as a friend. Pretty **** role model for that matter.

There is one line of text here where I call him out about Sambo. In this case my point is that SSF came here complaining about someone misrepresenting the art that he cares so much about but at the same time lets his friend off the hook for doing the same thing. SSF started this because of people defrauding Sambo but he gives a pass to the guy who caused the damage in the first place. Thats bullshit to me.

Also just for the record I have been in the position of managing an MMA gym so yes I do know just a little bit about it. We had a code of conduct that was expected of students. If they did not comply to those standards they were asked to leave. Why? Because if you do business with dishonest people, especially when what they do is having an effect on the local martial art community in a negative way, than that can be bad for the rep of your gym and bad for business.